TriplePoints of Interest – Week of September 5

This week in TriplePoints of Interest includes gaming highlights from the 2016 Apple press conference, Sony unveils the new PlayStation 4 Pro, World of Warcraft: Legion sells more than 3.3 million copies in 24 hours, and several major North American esports organizations formed the Professional Esports Association.

Apple Keynote September 2016: Super Mario Run and Pokémon Go

Many were expecting a lot of big announcements out of Apple’s big press conference, but they weren’t expecting any gaming-related announcements. Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto took the stage and revealed Super Mario Run for iOS and Android. The Verge explained that Super Mario Run is an endless runner type game that allows you to play with only one hand. Niantic CEO John Hanke also made an appearance to announce that Pokémon Go is coming to Apple Watch “later this month.” The Apple Watch version of Pokémon Go will alert players when certain Pokémon are nearby, says Ars Technica.

 

Sony Unveils New PlayStation 4 Pro

On Wednesday Sony held the PlayStation Meeting 2016 where it revealed the PlayStation 4 Pro, a new and more powerful iteration of the PS4. It is built with a faster processor, better graphics, and supports 4K resolution. The console can output 4K and HDR video, not only improving the console gaming experience, but the PlayStation VR experience as well. Netflix and YouTube also have plans to develop new apps specifically for the PS4 Pro. The PS4 Pro launches November 10th and it will cost $399, says Wall Street Journal.

 

World of Warcraft: Legion sells more than 3.3 million copies in 24 hours

The latest World Of Warcraft expansion, Legion, sold more than 3.3 million copies on its first day of sale. Blizzard also told PC Gamer that Legion led to a surge in concurrent players during launch week, an all-time high for the franchise since the 2010 launch of Cataclysm. The sixth expansion is live in the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

 

North American esports orgs form PEA, a new team-owned esports league

Yahoo! Esports reported that seven North American esports orgs created the Professional Esports Association (PEA) as an owner-operated Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league. PEA was created by major franchises Team SoloMid, Cloud9, Team Liquid, Counter Logic Gaming, Immortals, NRG Esports, and CompLexity Gaming. The PEA aims to be the “NBA of esports” and looks to set the standard for player care. Both players and owners receive an equal 50 percent share of profits, retirement and investment planning, health insurance and more. Moreover, PEA will have a Rules Committee, giving a voice to players in matters like league operations. In addition to their debut, PEA will commence its first league in January 2017 with a $500,000 prize pool.